


Death of the Mark

by Kuripuri



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Death of the Outsider, Drabble, Gen, Short, i think you can figure out what happens in the dlc based on the name, not really any spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-31 17:26:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12137466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kuripuri/pseuds/Kuripuri
Summary: When the Outsider is relieved from his duty and freed from the void, a shudder is felt through the world. How two of the marked people felt when the mark lost its power.I headcanon that Corvo wasn't too happy about getting the mark eventhough it made protecting Emily a whole lot easier, and Emily thought getting the mark was absolutely bitchin'.Also at tyvian-whaler.tumblr.com (send prompts to me!)





	Death of the Mark

**Author's Note:**

> (eventho i dont actually know if the mark dissapears when the outsider does)  
> please forgive any typos or mistakes, in text or in canon, and enjoy! please leave a kudos and/or a comment if you liked it! it literally rocks my socks off

Politics were never easy nor fun but not even with her newfound respect for her titel and power did it become any less sufferable. At times, after long sessions and boring subjects, she felt the walls of the grand hall push in closer and the only thing keeping her spirits up and head held like an empress was the thought of running on the rooftops after dark.  
  
The mark on her hand itched in anticipation, like a wound still healing, at the thought of dashing through the city in the dark. Last time she had been close to improving her record, maybe this time she would beat it.  
  
Corvo, as loyal as ever, quietly stood behind Emilys throne. He paid more attention than she did but less so on the words exchanged. Instead he kept a trained eye on the visitor and their entourage, looking for anything that might indicate foul play. Unbeknowst to the two of them, he could feel the mark tingle as well, a brief reminder of what had been, but unlike Emily it didn't please him.  
  
If he could forget the gift he'd been given and the things he had done with it, it wouldn't take long for him to get rid of it. Was it a blessing or a curse? He had saved Emily, though he might've been able to do so without it, but along the way it had changed him just as it changed the world around him.  
  
He didn't know why the Outsider had shown interest in him or why, years later, he'd come for Emily as well but he didn't want to see that man again to find out. The mark was nothing but a mark on his skin, a scar like any other, and with any luck it would stay that way.  
  
Later that evening when Emily was reading about foreign history, preperation for days to come, and Corvo sat in his favorite chair reading a book, though frequently glancing at the painting of the late Empress Jessamine, the world dissapeared around the both of them.  
  
In the blink of an eye they were cast out from the comfort and warmth of Dunwall Tower into the cold and hollow void and just as soon they returned. Something was different. It wasn't just the sudden return or the surprise of being back in the void without provocation.  
  
The world had shifted for a moment, if only just slightly, and things were no longer the same. But more surprisingly was that both of their marks felt oddly empty as if a weight had lifted from their hands.  
  
They had never been vocal about their experiences with the Outsider in a silent mutual understanding that whatever happened in the void was a private affair. The void shaped itself to fit the mind of the one who wandered there and no experience was ever the same, and for the two of them with their dark and traumatic pasts, it just wasn't something to be shared.  
  
The one thing the void had in common was the fear that filled the air, whether imposing or subtle, and even after just a brief reminder it filled the room. Corvos eyes met Emilys as she touched her hand where the mark was seared into her skin and perhaps it was the simple light in the room that evening but it looked a little faded, a little less dark.  
  
Corvo in turn looked at his own, feeling as if the mark was less... empty, in a way. The black mark had felt like a piece of the void on his body. Sometimes he would gaze on it and realize that it was hours later, feeling as if he'd been straining his eyes to look out a great distance. Sometimes he could hear the whales that swam in the grey sky though he tried telling himself that the tower wasn't far from the coast and the sounds were natural.  
  
Emily never heard anything from her own mark but she swore that sometimes when she stared at the mark for too long it stared back, watching her from both outside and within. As the Empress of the Isles she already had little privacy and the mark, while initially feeling liberating and powerful, came to make her feel small and shackled, unable to escape the prying eyes.  
  
The coming days after the shudder of the void that they never directly adressed, only briefly sharing a knowing look, the mark began to fade and their powers started to weaken. Emily slipped more often when running across the city in the dark and the bruises she accumulated hurt more and were harder to hide.  
  
Corvo felt his concentration improve but focus lessen. Without the songs of the whales he could take more in from his surroundings but he found himself letting his eyes wander to things that weren't important; the shape and color of the spring flowers in the garden, the embroidment on the guards royal uniforms and the soft breeze moving a lock of hair or a fallen leaf.  
  
The world would, of course, carry on as it had but the void without its god became dormant and calm. The cracks in the world where the void sometimes leaked through began to heal and while the void was eternal and older than time itself it distanced itself from reality until the next deity could be born.  
  
And so the Empress and her Royal Protector didn't live to see the next great age of the void but lived through the Outsiders mark and his passing, leaving behind only rumors and their memories that eventually died with them.


End file.
